Author Archives: Carol Edwards

TV scripts often go through many drastic changes as they evolve in a writers room. 

But there’s something uniquely hilarious about watching this happen to Rick and Morty, as co-creators Dan Harmon and Justin Roiland deliberate — with all the seriousness and anxiety in the world — over how best to use the “ISIS werewolves.”

What the fuck are ISIS werewolves, you ask? We don’t know and never will, because the concept didn’t make it into the final form of ‘The Rickchurian Mortydate.’ 

But boy, that phrase really gets the imagination going.

The recently released Adult Swim video shows a rare, candid glimpse at just how much hard work goes into crafting a show like Rick and Morty. Comedy is serious business. And the early plot to the Season 3 finale titled sounds almost unrecognizable. You can also see use of Harmon’s famed Story Embryo format, which applies the “hero’s journey” act structure to TV writing. Read more…

More about Entertainment, Rick And Morty, Dan Harmon, Justin Roiland, and Rick And Morty Season 3

It wasn’t quite a Thanos-level extinction event, but the Twitter purge came, it took, and it conquered.

On Thursday, Twitter commenced the deletion of accounts it deemed “inactive.” That means accounts owned by people who’ve stopped using the platform and didn’t bother to try to reactivate when Twitter sent them a message asking what’s up, and bots that Twitter flagged for exhibiting erratic behavior who didn’t answer that same “what’s up?” email — because the accounts don’t actually belong to real people.  Read more…

More about Twitter, Bots, Tech, Web Culture, and Social Media Companies

The coalition that organized last month’s Families Belong Together march just launched a new fundraiser called Flights for Families. The program will help pay for the travel expenses of detained migrant parents asked by the government to cover the costs of reuniting with their children. 

In the hours after the fundraiser launched Friday morning, the group raised $3,500 from over 50 individual donors. The goal is to raise $25,000.

The Families Belong Together coalition says the Trump administration is forcing families to travel long distances at their own cost. The expenses can exceed $3,000. Additionally, detained parents who want to reunite with their children are being told to pay for the cost of DNA testing.  Read more…

More about Immigration, Familiesbelongtogether, Familyseparation, Zerotolerance, and Social Good

Using your smartphone or tablet’s built-in speakers should only ever be a last resort if you want to listen to your favorite music playlists. With many Bluetooth speakers out there, it’s the perfect time to invest in a great device for a superior listening experience. You don’t even have to worry about buying a bulky unit that’s tied into a power supply. 

Plenty of portable Bluetooth speakers are high quality, while also offering the flexibility of a great battery life and added convenience. These are great for taking out with you while you’re hiking, or simply for when you’re traveling away for the weekend and you still want to listen to your tunes in the hotel room.  Read more…

More about Bluetooth Speakers, Mashable Shopping, Shopping List, Tech, and Consumer Tech

This is the internet at its finest. 

Ben Rosen inexplicably had the same guy eating random food based on Redditors’ requests, recorded him eating it, and then posted it in the thread. He started with a video of the man, named Eric, eating a jar of plain mayonnaise, and said that he’d respond to any food request “with the appropriate video.” 

It’s bizarre. 

Eric, who Rosen says is a special ed teacher and an “all around nice guy,” is a trooper. He fulfilled nearly every request, from maintaining eye contact with the camera while eating a banana to eating an actual garbage bag.  Read more…

More about Reddit, Viral Videos, Culture, and Web Culture

As far as his company is concerned, Papa John is Papa gone.

According to an AP report, Papa John’s founder and former CEO John Schnatter will be removed from all company marketing materials — including pizza boxes — after it was revealed that he used the n-word on a conference call in May.

“The Board of Directors of Papa John’s accepted Mr. Schnatter’s resignation as Chairman of the Board earlier this week,” current CEO Steve Ritchie wrote in an open letter for the brand’s website. “It has also been decided he will no longer be in any of the advertising or marketing materials associated with the brand.” Read more…

More about Pizza, Papa John S, Culture, Discrimination, and Food

A massive crop circle that will troll Trump as he flies over the United Kingdom isn’t the work of aliens, but it’s definitely sending a message.

The crop circle on Moat Farm in Stoke Mandeville says “блядь” in Russian, with “Trump” directly beneath it. The Russian word directly translates to “whore.” It’s also used as an exclamation, much like shit and damn. In this context, it probably translates to “Fuck Trump,” possibly a jab at the president’s chumminess toward Russian president Vladimir Putin. The circle is directly under Trump’s flight path from London to Chequers, where Trump will visit Prime Minister Theresa May on Friday.  Read more…

More about Politics, Uk, Trump, Culture, and Politics

Facebook sure has a strange definition of analysis. 

In the wake of a scandal over the spread of misleading information on its platform, the company hosted a group of reporters on Wednesday in Manhattan with the apparent goal of showcasing its efforts to combat fake news. 

But when asked by CNN reporter Oliver Darcy why Facebook hadn’t kicked InfoWars, a slinger of right-wing conspiracy theories, off its platform, the reporter said he didn’t get a satisfactory answer.

“Facebook invited me to an event today where the company aimed to tout its commitment to fighting fake news and information,” Darcy tweeted on Wednesday. “I asked them why InfoWars is still allowed on the platform. I didn’t get a good answer.” Read more…

More about Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg, Fake News, Infowars, and Tech

Editor’s note: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander readers who choose not to look at images of the deceased should not continue reading as such images are included in the following story.

Incredible, groundbreaking Indigenous Australian women are having their stories brought to the front, with the Twitter hashtag #BecauseOfHerWeCan.

Black rights activists, politicians, poets, nurses, barristers, artists, and the first Aboriginal person (male or female) to play test cricket for Australia, women living and passed are being acknowledged on the social network.

More about Twitter, Social Issues, Social Good, Indigenous, and Social Good

This little girl is a beauty guru in the making. 

@___serafina’s daughter used to be a nail biter, so as an incentive to get her stop, she promised to paint her daughter’s nails. 

“This time around she wanted press-ons and I said no,” @___serafina said in a tweet.

But her daughter wanted fake nails, and nothing was going to stop her. She made herself fake nails out of clay, perfectly capturing all of this season’s hottest trends. The look, complete with a matte stone colored glaze and filed into an elegant almond shape, is better than most professionally done nails you’d find on Instagram.  Read more…

More about Twitter, Influencers, Culture, and Web Culture